It is so easy
to fall
into the relentless gravitational pull of hatred,
to strike the flint of grief
and set fire to the air
until there is a rain of cinders
and the world is charred and blackened.
It is so easy
to fall
towards an event horizon
that extinguishes light —
the dancing light behind eyes,
the lightness of heart and feet,
the incredible lightness of being —
instead of
standing upright
amidst the carnage, the conflagration,
extending a hand, extending a voice,
being a pillar, being a bridge,
being an unblinking light —
that is where courage resides,
where we reclaim aspiration,
where we reclaim our humanity.
That is the requirement.
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